A community pharmacist and a former health improvement pharmacist are among those from the pharmacy sector who have been recognised in the 2025 New Year Honours List.
The honours recognise those who have made achievements in public life and committed themselves to serving and helping the UK.
Among those honoured for 2025 are Alan Kurtz, proprietor and manager of Fishers Chemist, South Norwood, who has received an MBE for services to community pharmacy, and Laura McIver, former chief pharmacist at Healthcare Improvement Scotland, who has been awarded a CBE for services to the pharmacy profession and patient safety.
Michelle Riddalls, chief executive of consumer healthcare association the Proprietary Association of Great Britain (PAGB), was awarded an OBE for services to consumer health.
A statement issued on behalf of PAGB said that Riddalls was nominated for the “outstanding work she has done as the foremost advocate for the over-the-counter (OTC) medicines sector, ensuring availability of OTC medicines and supporting consumer healthcare”.
Riddalls has, the statement said, “been at the forefront of advocating self-care across the UK and worked with Number 10, MHRA [the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency] and the Department of Health and Social Care to instigate the reestablishment of the Reclassification Alliance”.
“This will open the door for more patients to access the products they need to treat their self-treatable conditions. Reclassification could result in a 5% reduction in NHS prescribing and could save the NHS £1.4bn, while broadening choice and benefitting consumer healthcare,” it added.
Riddalls said: “I am truly humbled and thrilled to have been awarded an OBE in the King’s New Year Honours for my services to the consumer healthcare sector. This recognition is beyond anything I could have imagined receiving for doing a job that I am so passionate about, and I feel deeply honoured.
“Contributing to the self-care agenda and the role played by increased availability of OTC medicines in self-care gives me a personal sense of satisfaction and benefits consumers, GP practices and community pharmacy, as well as the OTC medicines industry,” she added.
